Commonwealth medal winner signs up for Scottish Championships

Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games silver medal winner Eilidh Child will be leading the field in this month’s scottishathleticsSenior National Championships at Scotstoun Stadium in Glasgow.

The Glasgow-based track star, who won silver in the 4x400m hurdles at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, is one of the leading stars of Scottish athletics and is a genuine medal hopeful for the London 2012 Olympics and the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games. This month she is turning her attention to the 119thscottishathleticsSenior National Championships.

The National Championships take place in Glasgow on Friday 15, Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July. The men’s pole vault finals will take place in Glasgow’s George Square on Friday 15 July as street athletics comes to Scotland for the very first time. The remaining events – 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 1500m, 3000m steeplechase, 5000m, sprint hurdles, high jump, hammer, shot putt, javelin, discus and long jump and women’s pole vault – take place on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 July at Scotstoun Stadium.

It promises to be an action-packed National Championships and Ms Child, who will be running in the 400m, is urging the public to get behind both the finals at Scotstoun Stadium and men’s pole vault in George Square, as excitement builds ahead of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.

She said: “I am really looking for to the National Championships. It will be the first time that I have run in Scotland for a couple of years now and it will be great to do so in front of a home crowd. It will be nice because it will give my friends and family the opportunity to come along and see me as they don’t always get the chance.

“When we finished second in the 4x400m hurdles in Delhi it was the Indian team that won and the crowd were going absolutely crazy. The girls were all talking about just how good it would be to experience the same in Glasgow and that is something I think we are all looking forward to. It will be special.

“It is really exciting that we will be having the men’s pole vault in George Square – it’s just really different as it will get people watching athletics who wouldn’t normally do so. You just have to look at some of the street athletics events down south to see that. It really gets the crowd going and that will lift the competitors.”

The National Championships are being delivered by scottishathletics in partnership with Glasgow Life on behalf of Glasgow City Council. By hosting the men’s pole vault finals in George Square, organisers hope to bring the sport to a much wider audience as well as athletics fans.